In the book Alexander deals primarily with the issue of the current mass levels of incarceration in the United States (with 5% of the world's population, the U.S. incarcerates 25% of the world's prisoners) and what she perceives as societal repression of African-American men and, to a lesser degree, Latino men. She discusses the social consequences of various policies for people of color, as well as for the US population as a whole. According to Alexander, the majority of young black men in large American cities are "warehoused in prisons," their labor no longer needed in the globalized economy. Alexander maintains that many young black men, once they are labeled as "felons," become trapped in a second-class status that they find difficult to escape. The conventional point of view holds that discrimination has mostly ended with the Civil rights movement reforms of the 1960s. However, Alexander claims the U.S. criminal justice system uses the “War on Drugs” as a primary tool for enforcing traditional, as well as new, modes of discrimination and repression.

TONIGHT WE WILL SPEND THE FIRST HOUR LISTENING TO THE AUDIO READING OF -CHAPTER ONE- AND ON THE SECOND HOUR WE WILL DISCUSS ITS SIGNIFICANCE AND HOW WE WILL BE USING IT TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO END THE NEW JIM CROW.

PLEASE JOIN US, LISTEN IN, TAKE NOTES AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS ARE, HOW YOU CAN HELP AND WHAT EXAMPLES HAVE YOU SEEN OF THE NEW JIM CROW IN YOUR CITY.